The Worst Move In Oilers History

There are a lot of bad moves and acquisitions the Edmonton Oilers have made. To name a few would be drafting Nail Yakupov, signing Milan Lucic long term, trading Jordan Eberle. But there’s one deal that not only wasted everyone’s time, but also hurt the team in a long term way so badly, it’s not an exaggeration to say it set the team back years. The situation I’m referring to is the RFA qualifications of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg who are now, current and future cornerstones of the St. Louis Blues. To understand how badly this turned out, we have to split this up into two different sections. The present, and the future.

The Edmonton Oilers are a perennial playoff contender and we need guys on cheap deals that can contribute and when it comes to guys like that in 2024/25 we have to talk about Viktor Arvidsson. The reason we have to do that is because Arvidsson is THE reason we couldn’t keep at least Dylan Holloway. We signed Arvidsson for four million to two years and it is very easy to see why this was disastrous. Arvidsson put up 27 points in 67 games which isn’t inherently bad but when you realize that same year Dylan Holloway on the Blues put up 63 points in 77 games with half the pay of him, it instantly becomes a downgrade. The Oilers didn’t keep Arvidsson for the second year of his deal and Holloway went on to get 51 points in 59 games this year. Now for Broberg, the first year of being with the Blues, Broberg was their 3rd or 4th dman playing respectable minutes and putting up a great season with 29 points in 68 games at a baffling +21. But I think this year solidifies how good he really is because Broberg became their number one dman this year surpassing Colton Parakyo in minutes played. On a tanking St Louis Blues team, Broberg finished with 34 points in 81 games and was one of the only 5 players on the team with a respectable +/- (Holloway is one of those 5 players as well). Just to really add insult to injury on these two players as well, because of the Blues RFA qualifications, you could essentially say the Edmonton Oilers traded Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway for Max Jones and Tommy Lafreniere. Max Jones is currently a depth grinder for the Oilers and well, no disrespect to Tommy Lafreniere but it’s unlikely he’ll ever suit up for an NHL game.

The real reason why this is so tragic in my eyes is because of one player, Matt Savoie. Savoie got his breakout season this year putting up 37 points in 82 games and I’m almost certain that will improve by a significant amount next year. Savoie has looked unreal lately and is a 22 year old forward. I feel like people sometimes forget we have a real chance to lose Connor McDavid soon after his 2 year extension and the Oilers need to know what the plan is after that regardless of needing to contend currently. That potential future without McDavid is the exact reason why losing Holloway and Broberg is so bad. You could have a potential core of Broberg, Holloway and Savoie all at the same age and timeline. Broberg 24, Holloway 24 and Savoie 22. Those could’ve been future cornerstones of the franchise and it’s not like they’re the only young guys the Oilers have. Isaac Howard, Quinn Hutson, Beau Akey are all players likely to make the NHL sometime within the next 1-2 years. We have Leon Draisaitl long term and in a potential world where McDavid leaves that you need to plan for, you could’ve prepped an insanely fast retool using these guys that has now become impossible because they simply don’t have them anymore.

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